DA: Pa. woman gambled away stepson's inheritance

Thursday

Dec 5, 2013 at 7:55 AMDec 5, 2013 at 7:57 AM

Associated Press

BENSALEM, Pa. (AP) — An eastern Pennsylvania woman has been ordered to stand trial on charges she gambled away more than $100,000 of her stepson's $150,000 inheritance — which he didn't even know was his.

Forty-eight-year-old Eleanor Leistrum, of Bristol Township, was ordered to trial on the theft charges after a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

The Bucks County Courier Times reports her stepson, Angelo Popovsky, was 16 when his father died three years ago so MetLife set up a fund to safeguard his father's life insurance proceeds until Popovsky turned 18.

But before Popovsky even knew he was entitled to the money, Bensalem police say Leistrum got MetLife to pay the funds which she deposited into a joint bank account without Popovsky's knowledge.

Police say she then gambled most of the money at the Parx Casino in Bensalem.